


Lonely at the Top

by meanoldauthor



Series: Mean Old Lady [11]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Isolation, Post-Game(s), someday i'm gonna learn to tag things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 07:44:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7039012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meanoldauthor/pseuds/meanoldauthor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Congratulations, you won a war. Now what?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lonely at the Top

Adal woke out of habit, a few minutes early. She lay there, eyes shut, hating how warm and soft the bed was, how nice the sheets were on bare skin, and how hard it would make it to leave.

She pulled a pillow over her head at the sound of a machine outside the door. And there it was. That damn polite little knock.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" an obscenely chipper voice said. She screwed the pillow tighter over her ears. "I'm ready to go over your morning reports as soon as you like!" She grumbled something into the pillow. "I'm sorry, I might need to get my microphones updated, because I didn't hear that. Maybe you should open the door!"

"Fuck off and let me sleep, Yes Man," she said, throwing the pillow at the suite's door. She pulled the covers over her head instead. "I'm tired."

"Oh, I'm really sorry, ma'am, but I can't!" He said. "You told me explicitly to make sure I woke you up this exact time every day, and for that order to override anything you said before you opened the door. Pretty clever of you!"

"Aaagh..."

"Didn't catch that either! Sorry!"

She slid to the side of the bed, still under the sheets. "Clever? Fucking cruel is what it is."

"Don't be so negative! Know thyself!" he said with a little chuckle.

Flat on her back, she got one foot on the floor. The other. "Can I order you to not make smartass quotes in the morning?"

"Not with the door shut. Sorry!"

Adal sat up, holding the blanket on her shoulders. Maybe she could go do something today. Take her mind off things. "Can you at least start your report?" She had left her clothes thrown over a chair, just out of reach. She glowered, willing them to come closer.

"Not until..."

"Yeah, the fuckin' door." She stuck her foot out and hooked the chair leg, dragging it closer. She picked a wide leather band off the stack and wrapped it around her chest, lacing it shut. Some habits died hard. "Can you at least tell me if the King got back with that offer?" she said. Maybe go see Raul while he tinkered with things, be crotchety old farts at each other. Except last time, he’d dropped hints that her being around drew attention he didn’t like…

"Yes, because he hasn't!" Yes Man said. "I calculate another day or two before he does. His new lieutenants are such the second-guessers!"

"Good for them," she muttered. Her underwear passed the sniff test, and got pulled on without standing. Socks, too. "How's the dam?"

"Part of your morning briefing!"

"So, good?" She pulled her pants on, not bothering to get them over her hips. She poked her fingers through the hole in the knee. "Bad?" Cass might be in town, trading. But she’d want to drink. _One more, just like the good old days,_ and the smell would get to her, and it would be one drink that came in many different bottles. Just like last time. They’d laughed about it, or Cass had, waking up god-knew-where with hangovers and all the Strip on pins and needles with her having disappeared.

"I can't say! Standing orders! Better get out here!" A pause. "Whenever you're ready, of course."

"Meh." Her shirt smelled like armpit, and had a stain down the front. She considered wearing it anyway. She didn't _have_ to leave the Lucky 38 today, after all...

She tossed it away and pulled her boots on. "Just hold that thought, then." She picked her Pip-Boy up off the nightstand, fastening it over the faded spot on her arm, still a warm tan. Arcade was busy. He never said why, but he’d gotten distant, maybe blamed her for the Followers’ strain, for not keeping order as well as she could. And she’d caught those long, considering looks from behind her back after learning about her Psycho problem, the ones that made her want to either punch him or crawl in a hole... 

"So... Overall, how are things? Can I ask that?"

"Just _swell_ ," he said. "The chances of violence are no higher than usual, and I have some great news from outer Vegas regarding what's left of the Fiends," he added, wheedling.

Boone, even, was in the area somewhere. They’d gotten along, right until she’d turned her back on the NCR, made it clear she’d kill troopers if it came to it. Maybe she could catch him, try and make amends, talk to someone who understood hurt.

She made herself stand and dragged her pants up the rest of the way. "Sounds good." She raked at her hair with her fingers as she pulled open a drawer. It was due for a cut, getting shaggy around her ears, and a few stands came loose. Might be due for some Rad-Away, too, she thought, examining them. Most were straight and black, but she gave the gray ones a forlorn look.

"Would it be possible for me to go away a day? Maybe two?" she asked, pulling on a clean shirt.

"Well." There was a long pause, and she could hear the Securitron's motors whirring. "Once the King has a decision on participating in the reconstruction efforts, you have no immediate priorities!"

Veronica had left, one day. Said she wanted to find new technology elsewhere, but Adal had seen it in her eyes, how she chose her words. She couldn’t stand to see the Brotherhood reduced to raiders, and couldn’t watch her family be wiped out by her friend. Maybe she could find her, she wasn’t the kind of woman to leave a quiet trail. Find her and say… What? 

She wandered back to the bed. Maybe she could head to the Big Empty for a bit. See if Borous had done that work on the Cazadores like she asked, but wouldn’t have. Talk to 0 about improving Securitron telemetry, which he would have ‘forgotten’ again, rather than work on House’s machines. See if 8 was getting along...

She picked up the jacket on the bed, and pulled it on slowly. It had a smell to it yet, and she pulled up the collar, holding it to her face. She breathed it in, a dusty, metallic tang, the red scent of the Divide.

"Ma'am, do I have to wake you up again?"

"Nah." There wasn't much to do in Vegas anymore, not when she wanted a day off. Gambling was just one more thing to get hooked on. Too many people looking for ways in, to curry favor and get under her skin.

She rubbed at the bend of her arm, feeling the scars there. There was a weight on her, pulling her down, making the world dim and bleak. Enough Med-X would leave her too numb to care. Just a dribble of Psycho and she'd have the energy to stand up straight. Even just one drink, enough to put her in a better mood.

Anything. Anything but solving Vegas's problems, fixing each just in time for another to arise, as she slowly, inevitably ground herself down to nothing. This was a road she wasn’t suited for…

"Ma'am?"

"Yeah, I'm here." She sloped over to the door, pulling it open on Yes Man's obnoxiously happy monitor.

"Okay!" he said, rolling back toward the elevator. "Are you going to tell me not to wake you up now?"

"No," she said, following. "Keep it up. Might not leave the room, otherwise."

"See? Clever!" He pressed the button for the penthouse level. "Do you want to start with the dam reports, then?"

"Yeah." She toyed with the front of her duster. "I might go away for a bit, later."

"Whatever you think is best!" A moment passed, one of those little beats before he worked up the nerve to ask something. "You know, this is a silly thought, but of you tell me where you're going this time, it would be much safer. I could send a Securitron detail if you don't rendezvous by a certain time!"

The elevator doors opened. "That might not go over well." She stepped out, towards the main monitors. Adal smiled a little, imagining Ulysses' expression at a fleet of robots come to walk her home. "No. I'm safe enough there."

“If you say so!” He rolled past, icon hopping onto the main console. “So, let’s get started…”

Adal nodded along, half-listening. It shouldn’t make her feel better, knowing there was someone in the world as lonesome as her. _Kings have no friends,_ he had told her once, sitting on the edge of the Divide. _Only subjects and enemies._

Maybe it would do them both good to prove him wrong.


End file.
